New owner, new era: Port Authority expert looks into Stewart's future

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Jameson W. "Jim" Doig, senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and professor emeritus of politics and public policy at Princeton University, is the author of what is widely regarded as the book on the Port Authority, "Empire on the Hudson."

Judy Rife

Jameson W. "Jim" Doig, senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and professor emeritus of politics and public policy at Princeton University, is the author of what is widely regarded as the book on the Port Authority, "Empire on the Hudson."

Doig is also the co-author of "New York: The Politics of Urban Regional Development," a book that dissects the efforts in the 1960s and 1970s to develop a fourth jetport. Here, Doig weighs in on the Port Authority's pending acquisition of Stewart International Airport:

Doig: The agency has the capability of sustaining a high level of performance over the long term because it's insulated from short-term political pressure — which makes it an unusual kind of government entity.

For example, commissioners were given staggered terms of six years to encourage them to think beyond the four-year terms of their appointing governors. Then, the agency was given its own revenue stream — rents, fees, tolls — to eliminate financial dependence on state legislatures. Unlike the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it doesn't have to ask for tax money every year.

What this insulation does — and it's not absolute — is allow the agency to attract and retain quality staff.

A: I think in Tony Coscia and Tony Shorris — you know, he (Shorris) was a student of mine — they've got the basis for a reasonably strong and coherent operation that is focused on the broader concerns of the region. The best kind of people to have as chairman (Coscia) and executive director (Shorris) are ones who are attuned to political realities and political restraints and adroit in dealing with them. They can combine what needs to be done with how to get it done.

But if one of the governors wants to use the Port Authority — actually, its money — for other goals, then the tension between the political appointees and the career staff affects the agency's ability to function. (Former New York Gov.) Pataki did this — he wasn't the first but I think he was among the worst — early on and a lot of good people left. Only recently has the agency begun to recover.

A: Delays at its other airports and now the Federal Aviation Administration's plan to limit flights at JFK are putting tremendous pressure on the agency to move as quickly as possible (to add capacity) — but how quickly it can develop Stewart depends in part on how quickly community support or opposition develops.

A: Airlines don't want to solve airport and airspace congestion by flying less frequent flights but they also don't want to fly out of airports like Stewart that are an inconvenient distance from their other operations. The Port Authority, however, is in a position to apply gentle pressure and then some to persuade airlines with gates at Newark and La Guardia to buy gates at Stewart. It only helps that the Hudson Valley is a growing travel market in its own right.

A: There's evidence across the country that community opposition can shackle an airport. Look at San Diego — no flights after 11 p.m. But the Port Authority knows from its own experience, particularly at JFK, that it has to partner with the community — or risk a gubernatorial veto of its plans.

Remember, too, that community opposition killed its plan to build a fourth jetport in the Great Swamp (in Morris County, N.J., and now a National Wildlife Refuge) in the 1960s and community opposition, as well as a decline in air traffic, killed (former New York Gov. Nelson) Rockefeller's plan to turn Stewart into the fourth jetport in the 1970s. Community opinion in the Hudson Valley is likely to be divided so I suspect the agency will put a good deal of effort into showing people that the benefits of developing Stewart outweigh the noise and other costs. If I were Shorris, I'd have 20 people doing outreach, attending every chamber meeting, every Rotary meeting "¦ .

A: I don't know. Aren't they using jets? Aren't they going to have to offer more long-distance flights to more places to get people to fly out of Stewart instead of one of their other airports? Aren't airports that offer those choices usually larger airports?

A: The economy, of course, and community opposition. The Hudson Valley's willingness to accept more flights at more hours, more noise for more jobs, will reach a tipping point and then, whoever is governor will have to calculate the political benefits and liabilities of reining in the Port Authority — or not. But this isn't something that will happen just once; it will happen time and again in the coming decades.

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